The Awakened bond

— Ayla —

I didn’t remember falling.

One moment I was standing by the window, staring at the moon, and the next — the floor was cold against my skin, my heartbeat a thunderstorm inside my chest.

“Nala,” I gasped. My voice sounded distant, hollow. “What’s happening?”

You’re awakening too fast, she said, her tone sharp but steady. The seal wasn’t meant to break this soon.

“It hurts,” I whimpered, clutching my chest. Every nerve in my body burned heat flooding through my veins, my bones aching like they were trying to tear themselves apart.

Because the bond has flared to life.

“Bond?”

To him.

The words echoed through me like thunder. My breath hitched. My vision blurred — flashes of golden eyes, a voice whispering my name through smoke and fire.

“Kael,” I breathed. I didn’t know why I said it only that saying his name made the air tremble.

He hears you, Nala whispered. He always has.

The apartment lights flickered violently — the glass on the coffee table cracking under invisible pressure. The hum in the air turned electric. I could taste metal, ozone, the wild tang of rain.

My hands shook as I crawled toward the window. Outside, clouds split apart and the moon burned silver brighter than I’d ever seen it.

My reflection glowed faintly back at me, my eyes shifting between gold and blue. For an instant, I saw her again — the silver wolf with my face.

Breathe, Ayla, Nala urged. You must hold on. If you let go now, the shift will consume you.

“I can’t” The pain sliced through me, sharp enough to steal my voice. My spine arched as if something deep inside me was trying to break free.

You can, she growled. Her voice was the sound of the wind over the mountains fierce, ancient. I will not lose you again.

The world fractured flashes of light, voices, memories not my own. A child running through trees lit by moonlight. Fire. Screams. And through it all, a boy’s voice steady, warm, calling my name.

Kael.

My chest constricted. My heart felt like it was splitting open — pain and longing and recognition all at once.

He’s coming, Nala said. Can you feel him?

I could. The pull — like a tether of energy wrapping through my ribs, drawing tighter, brighter, closer. I gasped, gripping the window frame as another surge hit.

The lights exploded — a shower of sparks that sent shadows rippling across the walls. My skin burned with white fire. My senses screamed awake. I could hear everything — the hum of electricity, the heartbeat of a cat in the alley below, the whisper of wind through distant trees.

“Nala—”

You’re becoming, she whispered. You’re remembering who you are.

My vision blurred again. I saw the moon — and beneath it, a field of silver grass, and two wolves standing side by side. One gold-eyed, one white as starlight.

You are the Moon’s Heir, Nala said. And he is the one the Moon chose to protect you. Do you trust him?

My throat tightened. “I don’t even know him.”

But your soul does.

The waves again, unbearable — light surging from under my skin. My back arched, breath torn from my chest. I screamed — not from fear, but from the weight of everything I was.

Hold on, Nala urged. He’s almost here.

“I can’t—”

Yes, you can. Her voice softened now, full of warmth. I’ll help you.

The pain began to change — from burning to pulsing, each beat of my heart syncing to something outside myself. The energy didn’t feel wild anymore. It felt alive.

The bond pulsed once, strong enough to shake the walls.

And through it, I felt him.

Kael.

His presence brushed my mind — fierce, frantic, protective. Like the echo of a promise.

Ayla.

My eyes snapped open. For the briefest second, I heard his voice — not in the room, not in my ears, but in my soul.

The pain stopped.

I slumped against the wall, gasping, drenched in sweat and moonlight. The apartment had gone eerily still again. The glass on the table shimmered, then stilled.

Nala’s voice was a whisper in my mind. He found us.

My vision dimmed, exhaustion pulling me under. The last thing I saw before the darkness took me was the moon — impossibly bright — and the faint outline of a wolf’s shadow moving through it.